Nightlife

We're miles away from any pubs or bars or clubs but there's still plenty of nightlife around here....

Photographing the Fantail II

I finally managed to capture the fantail in mid air but it still isn't fanning its tail. Next time...

Misty Morning

Our first morning as permanent residents and we woke to a thick mist.



The ferns rose up out of the clouds and we couldn't even see the sheep in the next field over.

Signs of Life

We left our Prius in the barn the week before last and returned to find it covered in paw prints. We wondered for a while if they were possum tracks but we can't see the opposable thumbs and the pads look too fat. No obvious claws either.


Probably a boring old cat - let's hope it stays away from the fantails.

Midwinter

It's the winter solstice today. A beautiful day of blue skies and bright sunshine but it was 13 degrees in the kitchen when James went down this morning. Better than a London winter though and the snowdrops are out already suggesting that spring is just around the corner.

Sheepless

First the alpacas disappeared - before we took possession of the house - and now the sheep have gone.

We arrived at the house on Friday to find the gate half-open and woke this morning to discover that the sheep which have been grazing our paddock had been moved on. We had thought they were getting a little rotund...


Still, lots of lovely Suffolks to look at next door.

Sixties Inspiration

I went for a long lunch today at Hotel De Brett in High Street in Auckland City Centre. The hotel was built in 1841 but extensively refurbished in 1959. It's just been renovated and it seems that the work done in the late 1950s has inspired the current owners.

The interior design in the bar and restaurant generated lots of ideas for our house too - just need to find a sideboard like this one now...

Photographing the Fantail

I finally managed to capture the fantail on Sunday as it sat in its favourite tree at the front of the house, keeping an eye on us. I'll try to catch it fanning its tail next time...

Shedding the load

We've been rooting through all our worldly belongings which are now housed in the shed.



I was serenaded on the old joanna as I tidied and then we cheered the place up with some Tibetan prayer flags which will hopefully protect our boxes from the leaky roof...

Measure for Measure

We've now measured the upstairs of the house and there will be a model produced soon which will be precise down to every last millimetre of the inside of the wardrobes...

Birdwatching

The fantails were busy again last weekend but we were most impressed by the parrot in the tea tree! Native parrots tends to be green with red underwings whilst this one had bits of blue, red and green all over - I'm fairly certain that it was an Australian import, the Eastern Rosella.

Here's a quick and imprecise checklist of the birds that we've seen over our land so far:

1. Fantail - of course
2. Tui (see below)
3. Silvereye
4. Kingfisher (technically next door but I'm going to count it anyway)
5. Kereru (native pigeon)
   
6. Kahu - the Australian harrier
   
7. Myna bird
8. Eastern rosella
   
9. Blackbird
10. Sparrow
11. Mistle thrush
12. Pheasant
13. Peacock
    

Das Ute

We've got a lot of work to do on the house, but as the proverb goes 'The man who wishes to move a mountain, starts by taking away small stones'. Things to do include buying lumber for raised beds and compost heaps, buying a second-hand ride-on mower to conquer the rolling acres of grassland of which we have become the witless custodians - and probably in the future several miles of sheep wire to render the property dog-proof - of which more later.

Therefore, we have invested in a necessary pre-requisite - a trusty 'Ute' - or utility vehicle. Here it is enjoying the unseasonal sun this weekend:

Now let's be honest - we don't really need a massive 4x4 - but it is going to be very useful in transporting all of the raw materials for our DIY and countryside pursuits. And, let's face it, as Jo pointed out, we are now nouveaux-rural, so it is de rigeur. Perhaps most importantly, it makes me very happy.

Making our own entertainment

It's often said that New Zealand is about 20 years behind the UK. In our house, it feels more like 60 years. It's unheated, there's a meat safe and there's no television.

Without a sofa and a television, we've been obliged to make our own entertainment. Luckily we have the washing up to keep us occupied - there's certainly no dishwasher in sight. The experience is much enhanced by the very functional dish drainer that I'd picked up in our local Korean supermarket in the city.



Having tidied up, we've been busying ourselves with games. Captain's mistress (appropriately, first played by Captain Cook), Go Fish and Trivial Pursuit. James has won most games so far which is unusual but there's plenty of time yet...

Shedding some light...

There are some quite exceptional lampshades in our house. Most of them are pretty sticky with dead flies and browned with age though so they're going to be removed, washed and sold on trade me. And then we'll probably spend a lot of money on some replacement retro lampshades...



I have the pleasure this weekend of changing all the incandescent lightbulbs for energy-saving versions. I managed to buy 21 bulbs for $10 (GBP3.80) in the Queen's Birthday Weekend sale at Mitre 10 last Sunday (plus a step ladder) and hope that I should be able to get around most of the house with those. With a bit of luck, the lights won't dim then when the radiator heats up...